Soaring interest rates knock American mortgage activity

17:02 17.10.2018

The previous week American customers filed the lowest number of requests for a mortgage since late 2014 due to the fact that the vast majority of home borrowing costs hit their highest value for more than seven years. That’s what the Mortgage Bankers Association uncovered on Wednesday.

As a matter of fact, loan applications for home refinancing headed south to their lowest value since late 2000. At the same time, mortgage requests to purchase a home slipped to their lowest value for 20 months, as MBA data revealed.

The seasonally adjusted index on mortgage applications inched down by 7.1% hitting 322.1 by October 12. It happened to be the lowest outcome since 296.9 recorded on December 26, 2014. What’s more, it appeared to be the steepest weekly slump for 13 months.

The ascend in mortgage rates turns out to be another headwind for the housing sector, which is currently struggling with poor inventory as well as soaring building costs.

Home borrowing costs tacked on, influenced by a shocking selloff in the American bond market, which in turn pushed the yield on benchmark 10-year Treasury notes to up to 3.261% that appeared to be its highest outcome for 7-1/2 years.

Market participants had dumped bonds due to fears about soaring inflation as well as a faster tempo of rate lifts from the Fed justified by firm economic data.

Bond gains have rebounded on safe-haven demand for bonds backed by steep losses in global stock markets. On Wednesday, the 10-year gain accounted for 3.15%.

In addition to this, interest rates on 15-year fixed-rate as well as five-year adjustable-rate mortgages amounted to respectively 4.50% and 4.34%, thus demonstrating their highest outcomes for more than seven years.

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